Hi, everyone. Rose in Bloom is with a beta reader; I’m sure there will be some tweaks to come, but I hope to release the novella soon. As always, this snippet is from a draft that may well change. Enjoy!
I poured the lemonade, a little surprised that I didn’t spill any. My hands trembled, which was utterly ridiculous.
He was just the gardener, for crying out loud … and I’d be gone in, what was it now, five months? Dimples … and a gorgeous mouth … and six-pack abs … shouldn’t make me so weak in the knees.
“I’ll fix us some sandwiches,” I said, trying to break the tension.
“Do you need help,” Gareth asked.
“No, you finish up out here; I’ll bring the lunch when it’s ready.” The idea of being in close quarters with him was more than I was ready to handle.
I came back outside with a stack of sandwiches and a more calm demeanor. We sat down to eat, and things seemed normal again.
Gareth asked about my book, and I talked about the romance novel I was writing … and the lay-off that had put me in a position to take this time away to live in Wisteria Cottage while I worked on it. I felt as though I were talking with a dear old friend, and the questions he asked when he found out I was writing a romance were intelligent and far from the condescension I’d come to expect from dates who called my hobby “Mommy porn.”
Sharon E. Cathcart 